House Proceeding on Mar 23rd, 2009 :: 0:21:45 to 0:27:20
Total video length: 27 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:266 Duration: 0:05:35 Discussion

Previous speech:

0:21:41 to 0:22:02( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: weust put an end to throwing trillions at the wrong source of the problem. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from califnia for five -- mr. sherman, for five minutes. mr. sherman: i ask unanimous consent to reve and extend my the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. sherman: i thank the gentleman from florida for his remarks.

0:21:45 to 0:27:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Brad Sherman

0:22:03 to 0:22:23( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: he refers to a.i.g. as too big to fail. the latest from wall street is, well, it's not so much too big to fail, to interconnected with the rest of financial institutions, too interconnected to fail is the new line. the fact is this, a.i.g. was too well connected to fail. a.i.g. should have been in

0:22:24 to 0:22:44( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: receivership, but that would have disadvantaged the most powerful interests in the world. now let us look at the new public-private partnership plan being put forward by the treasury. it involves a thousand times as much money as a.i.g. executives received in bonuses.

0:22:45 to 0:23:08( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: and it would make the american people a thousand times as angry except for the fact that it is so technical that the american people may not fully understand it. here's how it's supposed to work. the taxpayer puts up 94% of the money.

0:23:09 to 0:23:30( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: the taxpayer takes 94% of the risk that the assets purchased will end up 94%. and the taxpayer gets 50% of the profits. the private wall street interests put up 6% of the money, maybe less, and they get 50% of the profits.

0:23:31 to 0:23:54( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: now, what this will mean is that this new entity that's created, the public-private partnership, will go out and buy these extremely difficult to value assets. they are going to overpay for some, underpay for others, they are going to make money on some, lose money on others. when they make money, we -- half the profit goes to wall street. whenhey lose money, 94% of the

0:23:55 to 0:24:15( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: loss goes to the taxpayer. these entities are going to be 94% government-owned and financed, at least we are putting up 94% of the money. a.i.g. was 80% government-owned and when they paid $1 million bonus, the country was angry. what about an entity that's 94% government-owned?

0:24:16 to 0:24:37( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: you can be sure this entity will be paying out million dollar salaries, million dollar bonuses. i wonder whether the american so what we have had is a circumstance where so far this government has transferred hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth to wall street.

0:24:38 to 0:24:58( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: but all that money has the big well-known publicly traded companies on wall street. there's another important tribe on wall street and that is the hedge funds. now with this new program, w can transfer hundreds of billions of dollars to the right side of wall street and hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer equity taking hundreds

0:24:59 to 0:25:19( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: of millions of dollars of taxpayer rich for the benefit of the left side of wall street. apparently some people think that's what fairness is. massive wealth transfer to both sides of wall street. now, let week we passed a tax bill. that bill has been criticized by wall street and the administration.

0:25:20 to 0:25:41( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: but they have ignored the statements of lawrence tribe, the foremost expert on constitutional law, the professor at harvard law school, who outlines step by step why that law was constitutional. now, i had problems with the law because it hadoopholes in it. it will allow the merrill lynch executives to keep their bonuses.

0:25:42 to 0:26:03( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: it allows million dollar a month salaries. i will today introduce what i think is a much more comprehensive effort to say that those who work for bailed out firms shouldn't get more than half million dollars a year, whatever they t in excess to that they ought to return to their companies. i hope we'll have some co-sponsors for that bill. but it is very plain from

0:26:04 to 0:26:25( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: lawrence tribes' analysis that the -- appach we took in this house yesterday is fully constitutional and that the flimsy constitutional arguments that are being made against it hold water only because they are repeated over and over and over again in somber tones by wall street and the establishment. let me give you another example.

0:26:26 to 0:26:46( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: this congress, the republican congress in996, passed a 200% excise tax which is now law. and that excise tax falls on excess bonuses and excess salaries to executives, and it was retroactive. six months retroactive between

0:26:47 to 0:27:07( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: when it was passed and it took effect six months earlier. why does nobody know about this code section with the 200% tax on excess compensation? because it didn't affect wall street. so it was not controversial. it affected those who received excess compensation from

0:27:08 to 0:27:20( Edit History Discussion )

Brad Sherman: charitable organizations. i look forward to working with my colleagues to pass reasonable limits on executive compensation and to make sure the taxpayer gets half the benefits if we are